Fish fighting

[Knucker]

I have a 15g IM cube. I only have 2 fish. One is a court jester Goby and the other is a Buan's Goby. They seemed to be fine for the first day or 2. Now the court Jester Goby is chasing the Buan's Goby. Today I found a bite mark on the Buan's tale.

I need help. I have made a lot of hiding places in the tank when I did my Aquascape. I even have a hollow Poseidon aquarium decoration (which neither use). It seems the court jester Goby has claimed the bottom half of the tank. If the Buan's Goby crosses that line the Court Jester will go after it.

 

[Cheese Griller]

I have a 15g IM cube. I only have 2 fish. One is a court jester Goby and the other is a Buan's Goby. They seemed to be fine for the first day or 2. Now the court Jester Goby is chasing the Buan's Goby. Today I found a bite mark on the Buan's tale.

I need help. I have made a lot of hiding places in the tank when I did my Aquascape. I even have a hollow Poseidon aquarium decoration (which neither use). It seems the court jester Goby has claimed the bottom half of the tank. If the Buan's Goby crosses that line the Court Jester will go after it.

Yeah it’s a 15 gallon tank. Although the gobies are small, you’re still not working with much space. I would remove the Buan’s goby before it gets too stressed.

 

[littlefoxx]

Probably remove one. Gobies are territorial, especially in a small tank and to other gobies!

 

[Knucker]

I asked BIOTA before I ordered them if they would get along together. The person on the chat said they have a tank with all kinds of Gobies together. As long as they have plenty of hiding places.

I built my Aquascape with this in mind. There are many nooks and crannies, with even the Poseidon aquarium decoration. I can't take one out as this is the only tank I have. It took everything I had just to get this one going.

Could I possibly use an acclimation box, or a tank divider to separate them until then learn to behave?

They seem fine when the day light is out and the moon light is going. They are still active and eating hair algae and picking at the rocks and sand. They just ignore each other after daylight.

 

[Knucker]

I contacted BIOTA and they said Fred 2 times a day, and rearrange the tank to disrupt territories.

I had the idea of adding a shrimp cave. The Buan's rests on the sand bed while the Court Jester doesn't. I'm hoping the Buan's Goby will take advantage of the cave to hide from the Court Jester.

I am going to try adding the cave, and putting the court Jester Goby into an acclimation box until the Buan's Goby finds the cave and sets that as it's territory then the Court jester can be released. If I still have issues. I might need someone close by that would take one of them off my hands.

 

[Cheese Griller]

I asked BIOTA before I ordered them if they would get along together. The person on the chat said they have a tank with all kinds of Gobies together. As long as they have plenty of hiding places.

I built my Aquascape with this in mind. There are many nooks and crannies, with even the Poseidon aquarium decoration. I can't take one out as this is the only tank I have. It took everything I had just to get this one going.

Could I possibly use an acclimation box, or a tank divider to separate them until then learn to behave?

They seem fine when the day light is out and the moon light is going. They are still active and eating hair algae and picking at the rocks and sand. They just ignore each other after daylight.

can you post a picture of the aquascape? Biota also recommends tanks of 20+ gallons for Buan's gobies so I'm not sure if that was included in your question to biota, or if they led you astray. An acclimation box should help the Buan's goby recover and hopefully get some footing.

 

[Knucker]

I did ask before buying the Buan's Goby about my 15g tank. I even sent them a picture of my Aquascape. There are more hiding places behind Poseidon. The court jester will chase the Buan's high up the tank.

 

[Cheese Griller]

I did ask before buying the Buan's Goby about my 15g tank. I even sent them a picture of my Aquascape. There are more hiding places behind Poseidon. The court jester will chase the Buan's high up the tank.

I would add wayyyyy more rock, and get rock that has natural nooks and crannies. I would aim to cover the entire back wall, with rock up to maybe an inch below the return. What you’re looking for is line of sight breaks, where the buan’s can go where it will be completely out of view from the court jester.

 

[Knucker]

I would add wayyyyy more rock, and get rock that has natural nooks and crannies. I would aim to cover the entire back wall, with rock up to maybe an inch below the return. What you’re looking for is line of sight breaks, where the buan’s can go where it will be completely out of view from the court jester.

I do have some rock left, but they seem to have settled in. Court jester Goby is staying on the left side and Buan's on the right. I will keep monitoring them. If there is anymore aggressive behavior I will take more drastic measures.

 

[Knucker]

It is hard to see in the picture but everything is on pillers. Some platforms have 3-4 pillers with about 1/2 inch between them.

And just as I'm typing this they both are on the same platform maybe 1 inch away from each other and don't care. They are just picking at the rocks now.

 

[Cheese Griller]

It is hard to see in the picture but everything is on pillers. Some platforms have 3-4 pillers with about 1/2 inch between them.

And just as I'm typing this they both are on the same platform maybe 1 inch away from each other and don't care. They are just picking at the rocks now.

I can see the pillars in the picture, my recommendation was based on the fact that a 15 gallon is already limited for space, and you have a lot of just open water when some of that could be converted into habitat for the fish.